Having had six days to prepare for the University of Memphis, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker believed the Crimson had to be solid in two key areas if it was going to have a chance against a bigger, more athletic Tigers squad at FedExForum on Saturday.

Harvard needed to limit Memphis' second-chance opportunities on the glass, which it failed to do as the Tigers totaled 17 second-chance points off 16 offensive rebounds in the 60-50 home victory.

Secondly, the Crimson had to take care of the ball against a Tigers defense ranked among the country's best in thefts. That didn't go so well either for Harvard, whose point guard, freshman Siyani Chambers, was pressured into six first-half turnovers that were part of the Tigers' eight steals before the break.

In winning its eighth straight game Saturday, Memphis (14-3, 3-0 in Conference USA) which returns to action Tuesday against Tulane (13-5, 1-2), continued its improved defensive play since a 1-2 trip in the Bahamas.

For one half at least, Memphis was as good defensively as it has been all season, suffocating Harvard with its pressure and giving up just one offensive rebound in holding the Crimson to a season-low 16 first-half points.

For the sixth time during Memphis' eight-game winning streak, the Tigers held their opponent below 40-percent shooting.

While critics might bring up the quality of competition Memphis has faced over that span — just three of the eight teams currently boast top-100 RPIs according to CBSSports.com — Harvard ranked third in the country in 3-point field-goal percentage. Memphis held the Crimson, which had been shooting 48.6 percent from the field overall this season, to 37.5-percent shooting, including just 25 percent (4 of 16) from 3-point range.

With Memphis still experiencing extended offensive ruts, like the 15 straight missed shots in the first half against Harvard, its defense has quietly started to resemble the outstanding unit it was a season ago, when it ranked 10th nationally and fourth-best in school history in defensive field-goal percentage (38.6).

"You're gonna have ruts, where you're just in a total skid and you can't score and you're just out of whack offensively. When that happens, you've gotta win games through the defensive end, and that's what we've done," coach Josh Pastner said. "In our run here that we've had, especially since the Bahamas, we've really been better defensively, and that's been the big thing."

In the 12 games since the Bahamas, the Tigers have limited opponents to the same 38.6-percent shooting they did for an entire season last year. In fact, they have been better defensively than last year in at least two areas. Through Saturday's games, Memphis ranked eighth in the nation in steals (10.1 per game; the Tigers ranked 46th last season at 7.9) and 12th in blocks (5.82 per game; ranked 11th last year at 5.6).

"We won (Saturday's) game through defense," Pastner said. "That's how we're going to win games. Our identity is through our defense."